News

New iPod-ready Bluetooth Headphones coming soon

By Dennis Lloyd ● Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Bluetake has announced the i-PHONO, an iPod-compatible Bluetooth wireless stereo headset featuring DSP noise reduction, fold-out microphone for use with phones, collapsible behind-the-neck headband design for carrying and storage, and changeable color plates. More interestingly, because it can be paired with multiple Bluetooth devices, you can receive and make phone calls while listening to music. i-PHONO is priced at $249 and “coming soon.”

Comments

1

Damn, thats a lot of money for a pair of headphones. Bluetooth sucks right now, I’d wait until they fix it.

Posted by acemilo in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 4:43 PM (CDT)

1

Headphones- $250

iPod Mini- $250

Hmmmmm… Which to pick? Mini. There, that was easy.

Posted by supercarrot900 in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 5:45 PM (CDT)

1

Anything that gets rid of headphone cables getting tangled… caught up in your jacket, bag strap, collar, scarf… etc.. is a GOOD thing.. Prolly just wait for version 2.0 tho :)

Posted by camson in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 6:04 PM (CDT)

1

i think i’ll wait until apple comes out with their own version that looks nicer and most likely will work better.

Posted by john in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 6:20 PM (CDT)

1

I guess that answers the question why nobody has come out with Bluetooth headphones up ‘til now. It’s just too darn expensive.

Posted by Wired in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 6:45 PM (CDT)

1

I have also been thinking as to why there are no bluetooth headphones. One thing that came to mind is that BT headphones will not be able to be used on an aeroplane. Just an observation.

Posted by David Reinhardt in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 6:59 PM (CDT)

1

Bluetooth can only transfer a limited amount of data. I believe in its current specifications it’s not enough for full quality stereo.

That’s why there are a million bluetooth headsets for phones (for not too much $$$), the phone headsets are only mono and the quality is bad.

Posted by DG in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 7:14 PM (CDT)

1

as soon as they make in ear headphones like sony ex 71’s that are blue tooth ..i don’tcare what they cost i’m buyin em….they’d prolly need a head band type thing like headphones though so you don’t lose em….

Posted by krzysztof in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 8:02 PM (CDT)

1

No that is cool, stereo headphones and phone headphone in one on bluetooth. Apple should sell such a headphone for $99.

Posted by stingerman in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 8:11 PM (CDT)

1

also that big pack thing would be annoying to carry around plugged into the ipod.
Nice try but….

Posted by hmmm in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 8:20 PM (CDT)

1

Just think of the “mint” headphones or earphones you can buy for $250, and how do these sound, not to hot I would guess.

Posted by jwc110869 in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 8:32 PM (CDT)

1

Those are such a rip off… I would never buy them.

Posted by WAY TOO EXPENSIVE! in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 9:14 PM (CDT)

1

Posted by Mr. Perception in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 9:29 PM (CDT)

1

Oh great… something ELSE to recharge on a daily basis.

Posted by running out of outlets in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 9:45 PM (CDT)

1

gimme, gimme, gimme! Phone BT is a waste. BT for ipod is perfect! Just let me use my remote and I can hide my iPod from my theiving co-workers! Plus without a cord I don’t have that stupid thing flinging around as I run with it.

Please review them and let them sound good. I’m easy to please and obviously a sucker for spending money.

Now! hehehe
Serena

Posted by Serena in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 10:42 PM (CDT)

1

you folks have obviously never tried the Motorola BT headset paired with a V600. Most people can’t even tell that its a headset. It works better than any wired headset I have ever tried.

Now… I have NO IDEA if BT is a good technology for stereo headsets but it might just work.

Posted by Motorola head in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 11:27 PM (CDT)

1

Yeah, that large pack that plugs into the headset doesn’t exactly look like the lightest thing to carry around in addition to the iPod. Even if it isn’t all that heavy, it’ll still be something extra to have to transport. I think I’d much rather just use my regular headphones…

Posted by skylark in Irvine, CA on June 30, 2004 at 11:43 PM (CDT)

1

Bluetooth is great, I have a v600 w/ BT headset and I love it. This form of Bluetooth for headphones is dumb. The audio will be recompressed and redecompressed with signifigant quality loss. Perhaps this idea would make sense if the ipod actually had BT built in and it simply transfered the data (much like it does now) to a small amount of flash memory inside the headphones. This would avoid the redundant compression and keep the audio integrity intact. The only problem is that transferring a .WAV or .AIFF via bluetooth would not be possible in real time with the current bluetooth spec (721Kbps). Some high quality compressed files might even have problems since that 721 is just a theoretical maximum
P.S. You can buy a better sounding alternative to this product right now from Amazon for under $60 - Links: Transmitter, Headphones

Posted by Lukas in Irvine, CA on July 1, 2004 at 12:29 AM (CDT)

1

Good idea Lukas. You can also go the stylish HQ way with an iTrip + Sony SRF-S83 portable radio + your choice of headphones.
These BT-Headphones are useless. I am not going to pay for something that craps out on high-quality music. I am not going to pay for a solution that will force some crappy $5 headphones on me.
Give me sth. that can handle 1mbps & is just a bridge that will allow any headphones to be connected and we can talk.